neurological dryer lint

sony released the 2.7 OS update for the PSP, which includes a flash player and the ability to save podcasts to the memory stick. still hoping for a native RSS reader, as well as a streaming media app that'll play HTTP streams of audio and video. there's a hack to stream iTunes playlists using a combo of the web browser and podcast apps; however as it listens on port 8080 i have to shut down my tivo server, which listens on the same port.

i haven't tried the updated podcast app - i don't really live-stream podcasts much, just grab 'em from itunes and listen to them on the way to work. i am a little more excited about the flash player - the PSP would be a great platform for flash-based applications, as they'd fit well on the screen and probably perform pretty well. that said, it's still not a great platform for normal web browsing, but in an emergency (heh) it'll do.

sony also released a free, downloadable demo of a new game called loco roco. it's a cute little puzzle game where you try to roll a little blob guy around a planet - by tilting the landscape with the shoulder buttons - and have him eat everything in sight. needless to say, i was inspired by the - ah - concept.

i grabbed mike shinoda's fort minor disc, fascinated by a couple of tracks i've heard. there's enough star power present on the album to perk the ears (guests by Black Thought, Common, and a production credit to Jay-Z); however lyrically it falls flat. granted, it's not fourteen tracks of rims and 45's and crunk, which is refreshing. they weren't replaced completely with riveting subject matter - some interesting tracks of self-reflection and family history, which makes it a pretty personal record.

what's funny is when shinoda knocks mainstream rap as being too simplistic - on get me gone he says

because these people love to put a twist to your words
to infer that you said something f%$@#!ng absurd
oh, did I lose you at infer?
not used to hearing a verse
that uses over first grade vocabulary words?

and it's very true - no one's scratching their head over the terminology on juelz santana's latest track. but while shinoda busts out the thesaurus, his rhymes end up lacking any charisma. there's a cleverness he could pick up from a biggie or a nas, a jeru or a ghostface.

what shinoda's missing in flow, he delivers in the beats, which are sick and make it worth a few re-listens. assuming you enjoy linkin-park-esque strings-guitar-deep bass, which he mixes with a little Compton flavor and some piano.

moving on - my previous mention of nofx's new disc reminded me of another one i'd been wanting to pick up for a while, and i finally did - their split CD with rancid, a rare one that took me a while to find. rancid does 6 nofx songs, and vice versa, and while olympia, WA is one of my fave rancid tracks, i think i like nofx's version better (as with rancid's version of sticking in my eye).

finally, a followup to the dr. pepper discussion from earlier - anyone else think the get berried in cream tagline is a little creepy?